At the basketball game I am trying to buy a hotdog when I notice a couple of my students laughing much more than they should be. I know they are high and are not doing a good job at hiding it...at all. As I get closer I know that smell is not from a skunk and there are people starting to notice their behavior, including children.
Understanding the Situation
a. What might be some underlying causes of the situation that you need to think about?
Why they like to get high?
Where they might have access to such drugs...
The type of people they hang out with outside of school
School plans of anti-drug causes?
b. Are there resources within your school that might be of help? If so who and what questions should you ask them?
Resource officer/ police:
What is the procedure when I find someone who may or may not be high? At what point can I send them to you? Should we confront them directly ourselves? What is sufficient evidence?
Administration
What is the procedure when I find someone who may or may not be high? At what point can I send them to you? Should we confront them directly ourselves? What is sufficient evidence?
Guidance counselors
What is this students background? Have they had problems before? Any emotional issues?
c. Are there other resources that might be helpful? --
A Solution
As a teacher, you will often try to address problems by preventing them. That said, things happen in classrooms that cannot be anticipated beforehand and you will have to make decisions about how to address the situation.
a. Decide whether your action is proactive (action aimed at preventing problem) or reactive (action occurs after situation develops).
Reactive. As a teacher we are not responsible for the proactive approach to drug prevention that is more on the side of administration. We would implement a reactive solution to this problem.
b. Decide what grade level you will "solve" this problem for.
Whichever... more common for older students
c. Describe what you'll do.
Notify resource officer and have him take care of situation. If he's not around, notify administrator. If they're not around I would instruct the students to follow me into the hallway and I would take names and call police directly.
d. Describe how you anticipate your action(s) will affect the situation.
It may cause a scene initially but the administrator or police officer will resolve the problem and try to prevent it from happening again.
Solution Consequences
Before you act to address a classroom situation, you have to anticipate possible consequences of your actions. Spell out some of these effects here:
a. How will you action be perceived by your students?
The students may think that the teacher is out of line and accusing them of something that they didn't do. They also may feel insulted and might feel as though the teacher is simply "telling" on them. This is natural though because that's the only way to resolve the situation.
b. How will your action affect the learning climate in your classroom?
Did not occur in classroom.
c. What might your students learn from your action? (Be sure to note both positive and negative lessons.)
They will learn that it is important to not do drugs and that we will try to create a drug free school community.
d. How will your students' parents react to their child's account of your action? (Remember that they will put their own "spin" on what you do.)
They may deny the situation to their parents but hopefully the police officer will be able to gain proof of the scenario to convince the parents that the action that was taken was necessary.
e. How will your administrator(s) react to your action?
They will be happy that we are keeping an eye on the students during extra-curricular activities. ----
BOTTOM LINE: I SHOULD... Immediately seek assistance (resource officer or administrator) and/or withdraw the students from the gymnasium and call the police.
The Situation
At the basketball game I am trying to buy a hotdog when I notice a couple of my students laughing much more than they should be. I know they are high and are not doing a good job at hiding it...at all. As I get closer I know that smell is not from a skunk and there are people starting to notice their behavior, including children.Understanding the Situation
a. What might be some underlying causes of the situation that you need to think about?
Why they like to get high?
Where they might have access to such drugs...
The type of people they hang out with outside of school
School plans of anti-drug causes?
b. Are there resources within your school that might be of help? If so who and what questions should you ask them?
Resource officer/ police:
What is the procedure when I find someone who may or may not be high? At what point can I send them to you? Should we confront them directly ourselves? What is sufficient evidence?
Administration
What is the procedure when I find someone who may or may not be high? At what point can I send them to you? Should we confront them directly ourselves? What is sufficient evidence?
Guidance counselors
What is this students background? Have they had problems before? Any emotional issues?
c. Are there other resources that might be helpful?
--
A Solution
As a teacher, you will often try to address problems by preventing them. That said, things happen in classrooms that cannot be anticipated beforehand and you will have to make decisions about how to address the situation.a. Decide whether your action is proactive (action aimed at preventing problem) or reactive (action occurs after situation develops).
Reactive. As a teacher we are not responsible for the proactive approach to drug prevention that is more on the side of administration. We would implement a reactive solution to this problem.
b. Decide what grade level you will "solve" this problem for.
Whichever... more common for older students
c. Describe what you'll do.
Notify resource officer and have him take care of situation. If he's not around, notify administrator. If they're not around I would instruct the students to follow me into the hallway and I would take names and call police directly.
d. Describe how you anticipate your action(s) will affect the situation.
It may cause a scene initially but the administrator or police officer will resolve the problem and try to prevent it from happening again.
Solution Consequences
Before you act to address a classroom situation, you have to anticipate possible consequences of your actions. Spell out some of these effects here:a. How will you action be perceived by your students?
The students may think that the teacher is out of line and accusing them of something that they didn't do. They also may feel insulted and might feel as though the teacher is simply "telling" on them. This is natural though because that's the only way to resolve the situation.
b. How will your action affect the learning climate in your classroom?
Did not occur in classroom.
c. What might your students learn from your action? (Be sure to note both positive and negative lessons.)
They will learn that it is important to not do drugs and that we will try to create a drug free school community.
d. How will your students' parents react to their child's account of your action? (Remember that they will put their own "spin" on what you do.)
They may deny the situation to their parents but hopefully the police officer will be able to gain proof of the scenario to convince the parents that the action that was taken was necessary.
e. How will your administrator(s) react to your action?
They will be happy that we are keeping an eye on the students during extra-curricular activities.
----
BOTTOM LINE: I SHOULD... Immediately seek assistance (resource officer or administrator) and/or withdraw the students from the gymnasium and call the police.